Spring Time Snow!

According, to the calendar it is officially spring! Recently, we have been spoiled with many beautiful spring like days! However, Mother Nature had other ideas for many parts of the country this weekend...bringing a winter snow storm and plenty of snow for many! In the St. Louis area, we didn't receive very much snow...maybe two inches, but certainly enough for our little family to have fun this morning. Recently, I was tempted to pack away Kyle's snow suit and snow boots and I'm very happy I didn't since they came in handy this morning.

It takes Kyle a few minutes to "warm up" to the snow, but really enjoys himself once he does. The snow was perfect for building a snowman since it was wet snow. I'm certain, our snowman isn't the best around, but we did attempt to "dress" him up with a hat, scarves, arms, eyes, and mouth. Hopefully, this will be our last taste of winter and we can look forward to the spring/summer months.

Saturday Scores

I bet when you read the title of this post it would be about the NCAA Basketball Tournament...right? Well, if you are a huge basketball fan, I'm sorry this post will be a huge disappointment! In actuality, the post is about our Saturday shopping adventures.

In the very near future, we will be having our kitchen remodeled. We have been in the planning stages for several months...talking with contractors, gathering samples for cabinets/countertops, researching appliance options, etc. Several weeks ago, we attempted to go appliance shopping with Kyle in tow, but he wasn't in the shopping mood, so we didn't get very much accomplished. John and I thought it would be much more productive to shop without Kyle. Today was the day and we were so very productive. We had done plenty of homework before our shopping excursion which really helped us not to become overwhelmed with all the various options available. I'm not going to go into details about our new kitchen (just yet!) but we did finalize our purchases for lighting, backsplash tile, and new appliances. We had previously decided on the cabinets and countertop so all the details are now finalized. We are so looking forward to our new kitchen since it is in major need of a face lift. Once the project gets into full swing, I'm sure I will be posting pictures for all to see! Since we were out and about without Kyle, we were even able to sneak in a nice quiet lunch this afternoon as well...which is always a nice treat!

Kyle spent the morning and early part of the afternoon with a babysitter. We absolutely LOVED the sitter...she was wonderful and such a perfect fit for Kyle. They had a fun time playing with Kyle's cars/trucks, coloring/drawing, reading books, and playing ball!

This evening we had a little more shopping to accomplish and Kyle tagged along with us on this trip. He was completely fascinated by the tractors on display in the store. We let him "test drive" one or two and he certainly approved...I think he wanted to drive one of them home...LOL!

We are settled in for the evening and wondering how much snow we will see later tonight. Mother Nature sure has been teasing us recently with all the beautiful spring like weather. Who knows, maybe I will be sharing some family fun pictures in the snow tomorrow.

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!

Jump for Fun

Recently, I heard about a fun, very Kyle friendly adventure. Rainbow Recreation, the company which sells the wooden outdoor play systems, swingsets, and trampolines has a showroom in our area which offers free play for the children. Since Kyle didn't have preschool today, we met friends this morning to let the kids run off some energy. Kyle's favorite by far was the trampoline, which is where he spent the majority of his time. I'm sure he would love to have his very own, but unfortunately for him we have no room in our backyard for one. The open play wasn't crowded which meant I was able to relax and have some adult conversation. It was a fun, inexpensive way to spend the morning and keep Kyle entertained.

Kyle also enjoyed swinging. He still likes the bucket type swings and I don't mind... I feel he is safer on this type of swing.

The next few pictures are action shots of Kyle jumping

and being silly while playing on the trampoline.

Bear-y Fun!

Kyle had a Bear-Y good day at preschool this morning! Today, each of the children brought their favorite stuffed bear with them to school. Well, the size of the bear was restricted to one which would fit into a backpack...so they weren't able to bring "life size" bears. During morning Circle Time the children shared the bears and then they sorted them by size, color, or other characteristics. What a fun, creative, yet educational way to bring together something which is special to each of the children, but have them learn from it as well.

Kyle has a few different bears...all the same color...baby blue! He had a couple which watched over him for eighty six days in the NICU so we thought it would be perfect for him to share one of these bears with his class.

Future Photographer?

Will Kyle be a professional photographer when he grows up??? If so, he has a lot to learn...LOL! Recently, Kyle was playing with the camera so I decided to assist him and show him how to take a picture. After a few attempts, he knew what to do, however he always put his finger in front of the camera lense so the first few pictures all looked liked this:

However, after a few tries, he finally took a decent picture...well, for a toddler anyway! May not be frame worthy, but at least you see it is a truck. Kyle will keep trying and maybe one day....practice will make perfect! Time will tell!

If Kyle continues to have an interest in taking pictures we may need to invest in his very own camera. At least, the plastic heavy duty kind that isn't too expensive and can stand up to toddler destruction!

Outdoor Playtime

I realize I've been lacking in the blog posting arena. I do have a little bit of catching up to do this week, but this post will sum up the majority of what Kyle has been up to recently. Kyle has spent everyday outside and I'm afraid it has created a habit that will be tough to break. He wants to be outside 24/7 and it can be a major battle to get him inside to eat, nap, take a bath, and go to bed. Kyle has always loved the outdoors, but he has much more freedom ...especially in the fenced in backyard...which makes things much more pleasant for everyone. During the spring and summer months our backyard is where we spend the majority of our time and we will be giving the area a little face lift within the next several weeks!

When Kyle isn't playing in the backyard you can find us taking strolls around the neighborhood. Kyle's favorite mode of transportation for our family walks is his wagon. He realizes he has the best seat in the house to sit back, relax, and take in the world around him. Since the outside activities have consumed much of our time recently it's tough to find blog material since each day is much the same.

Blogoversary Winners

Thanks for the wonderful comments (all four...LOL) in regards to my One Year Blogoversary. Angie and my Dad are the winners of either a $10.00 gift card from Target, Starbuck's, or Barnes and Noble. Unfortunately, only US residents were eligible and the other two comments were from outside of the United States. For the winners, please let me know which gift card you would prefer. Enjoy spending your $10...in this economy every little bit helps! Thanks so much for being faithful blog followers!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!!!

Kyle was decked out in his festive shirt for St. Patrick's Day...Kiss Me I'm Irish! Kyle made sure he wasn't going to be pinched by anyone! Kyle and I celebrated the holiday with a shamrock craft, festive green cupcakes, and St. Patrick's Day balloon. We planned to make shamrock sugar cookies, but that didn't happen today so we will have another reason to celebrate tomorrow as well. As you can see, I had more fun playing with my new favorite website!

Hope everyone had a festive, fun filled St. Patrick's Day!

Creative, Crafty Fun: Day Two

Of course, our theme of the day was obviously St. Patrick's Day so Kyle's Creative, Crafty Fun centered around the "green holiday"! Kyle decorated a shamrock with St. Patrick's Day themed stickers including green and yellow shamrocks, leprechaun's, and hats! I attempted over and over again to snap a picture with Kyle holding his shamrock "piece of art", but it just wasn't going to happen, so I eventually gave up! Stay tuned on Wednesday for Day Three's "masterpiece"!

Happy Birthday!!

TO ME!!!!

March 17th...Happy St. Patrick's Day... Happy Birthday! I have always enjoyed being able to celebrate my birthday along with a such a fun holiday! I had a wonderful day and enjoyed having special one on one time with each of "my boys". Kyle and I had a fun day out and about enjoying the absolutely beautiful weather since he is on Spring Break from preschool. John and I went to a quiet, casual dinner this evening...the key word being "quiet"! Kyle was off having a good time playing outside and in the dirt with a friend. I'm sure for Kyle that was much more fun and entertaining than sitting in a restaurant with Mommy and Daddy!

Happy St. Patrick's Day from Lindsey and John! I received a beautiful spring floral bouquet from my boys for my birthday!

Creative, Crafty Fun: Day One

Since Kyle is on Spring Break this week, each day we will have some "Creative, Crafty Fun"! Today, we made a foam fire engine. Kyle enjoyed his craft, but he seemed to have more fun playing with the glue and wasn't very patient letting the glue dry. In the end it does look like a fire engine...so mission....complete! Stay tuned on Tuesday for Day Two!

Kyle is making sure the ladder is put securely on the truck. Kyle really doesn't want the wheel to fall off the fire truck.

I wanted to take the picture with Kyle holding the fire truck toward the camera,

but he wanted it facing him so he could examine his work.

Photo Fun!

I recently came across one of the coolest websites called Picnik. The site allows you to edit your photos in so many ways....lighting, cropping, text, frames, etc. and it is very user friendly. Best of all it is free, however in order to use some of the features you must become a member, which is $24.95 per year. Maybe, since my birthday is tomorrow, this may be a fun present I could use all year long! I haven't used the site too much, but could literally spend hours working on editing my photos! This is just what I need...to spend more time on the computer...NOT! I have a couple of examples of photo edits I did, but didn't really get too creative, but even the simple things I added really jazzed up the pictures....don't you think?

The weather is beautiful today and these were a couple of photos taken of Kyle enjoying "The Great Outdoors".

Early Celebration

Saturday night, John took me out for an early birthday celebration date night. Since it was my birthday, I had the upper hand in making all the decisions about where to eat dinner and our after dinner entertainment. For dinner we went to Napoli 2, a newer Italian restaurant in STL. We were very pleased with the restaurant...service, decor, and most important: the food! We started with a shrimp appetizer topped with a spicy tomato sauce...delicious! For our main entrees, John ordered the Lamb Chops, which is totally off the board for him, but he thoroughly enjoyed his dinner. I ordered the Veal Parmigiana which was very tasty. I find myself ordering veal out since we don't eat veal at home very often. To top off our delicious dinner we split a tiramisu desert. I'm not sure I have ever met a tiramisu desert that I didn't enjoy...LOL! This was a wonderful way to begin celebrating my birthday. We would recommend the restaurant to anyone in the STL who is an Italian food lover!

Next on our stop for our evening "entertainment" was Barnes and Noble bookstore. I use the word "entertainment" very loosely for this activity, but we love to read books so it was a nice treat to stroll through the bookstore without having to worry about Kyle getting antsy or bored.

After our tour of the bookstore, we went to see He's Just Not That Into You. I've been wanting to see this movie since it was released. We (yes, John too) enjoyed the movie very much....great cast of actors! Have you seen this movie and did you like it? Have you read the book? I haven't read the book and I'm unsure if I will since I have already watched the movie. I LOVE my husband since he doesn't mind watching "chick flicks" with me....these days that's hard to find in a husband/boyfriend! Once you have children, it's hard to find the time to go to the movie theatre, so for date night a movie is always at the top of my list. My only issue with movie theaters these days is the movie times. I really wish there was a showing between 7:00p.m. (too early) and 10:00p.m. (too late).

Since it was after midnight when the movie ended, we headed home...way to late to be staying out these days...LOL! On our way home, the local county police department was conducting a sobriety checkpoint. Thankfully, we opted to see a movie instead of going out for drinks. Each car was stopped...John was asked where he was that evening, asked for his license, and insurance card. Of course, we were fine, but this was a first for both of us. I was unsure if we should inform our babysitter about this checkpoint since she would be driving by the area. I really wanted to let her know, but John thought it was best that we not mention it...so we didn't. Of course, I wasn't worried that she had been drinking, but I would have been scared driving alone after midnight and pulling up to a sobriety checkpoint. Do you feel we should have told the babysitter?

I hope everyone in the blog world enjoyed the weekend!

Also, don't forget to enter our Blogoversary Giveaway!

Happy One Year Blogoversary!

Today, at Keeping Up The Spences, we are celebrating our One Year Blogoversary. I clearly remember the afternoon of Friday, March 14, 2008... creating my blog... attempting to find the perfect name, choosing a layout, learning to upload pictures, and wondering where to even begin! At the start of the blog, the name was "My Little Munchkin" since I was only planning to post about the day to day life of our little boy, Kyle. As time marched on, I found myself blogging about our little family and various other topics, so our new blog name was created...Keeping Up With The Spences!

There are many reasons why a person creates a blog and ours was created more as an online scrapbook and journal. In the future, I plan to turn our blog into a book so Kyle will be able to read it as he gets older. I would like to thank my faithful blog readers for continuing to read along and hope you will stick around for another year.

To celebrate this huge milestone, we are hosting an awesome, fun giveaway! We will be giving away three...yes three, gift cards to three very lucky readers!

All that is required in order to enter the contest is to leave a comment on this post. Of course, anyone is eligible to enter the giveaway...whether you are a regular reader or a "lurker"...but please leave an email address so I may contact you if you are one of the big winners! Please spread the word via your blog or friends if you would like. Unfortunately, I will only be able to ship to an address within the United States! Kyle will be picking the three lucky winners on Friday, March 20th at 7p.m. CST...so check back to see who won each of the gift certificates.

Good luck and have a wonderful weekend!

Creative, Crafty Fun!

Today, was the first official day of Kyle's Spring Break...he is preschool free for ten whole days! Since, we will have a little extra time on our hands next week I thought it would be fun for Kyle and me to have some "Creative, Crafty Fun!". Yesterday, I headed over to Hobby Lobby and picked up some toddler friendly craft items to be used next week. Each day next week Kyle will transform the items pictured below into beautiful toddler "works of art". Be on the look out next week for pictures of his daily accomplishments.

Future Toddler Works of Art

Please check back tomorrow for a fun One Year Blog-O-Versary Giveaway, compliments of The Spences!

Yummy....Chocolate

We have a chocolate lover on our hands!! At last, in one eating department he is taking after his Mommy and Daddy...LOL! Below, Kyle is eating his yummy desert....pudding!! Granted, he isn't the neatest eater around...as you can see in the picture it's on his mouth, shirt, and hands. For now we will be happy with whatever he puts in his body (food wise, that is) and work on the eating etiquette in the future. Kyle really wants to be a nice little brother and share the pudding with Chloe, his dog, but since chocholate is toxic for dogs we must monitor this very closely.

With Kyle's new acquired taste, he would be very excited to see plenty of chocolate candy in his Easter basket. I'm sure he will be quite disappointed since he will only receive one or two pieces. Poor little guy...he is so deprived :)

Mmmmm....Yummy, Yummy, for my

Tummy, Tummy, Tummy!!

Moving Along

Yesterday was Kyle's parent-teacher conference at his preschool. John and I planned to attend the meeting together and I arranged for a friend to watch Kyle. With my cough and Kyle's cough still lingering I felt it best that I not attend the meeting, so John went alone. I was very disappointed to miss the meeting since I was anxious to receive the full details on Kyle's progress at school. The meeting included Kyle's teacher and his three therapists. The conference is restricted to a twenty minute time frame so quite a bit of information is covered in a short period of time. I did send John to the meeting armed with a list of questions and we also received a copy of the progress notes in full detail.

Kyle has an education plan in place with detailed goals to hopefully be achieved by the end of the school year. The goals are in many different areas of development...from classroom discipline, school routine, interaction with other children, fine motor skills, speech/language skills, and physical therapy. Kyle is making progress toward his annual goals in all areas of his education plan. All the staff involved had a very encouraging report about Kyle's development. Although, progress still needs to be made, we are so pleased that he continues to move in the right direction. I'm just happy that he still enjoys school and always has such a big smile when I drop him off each day, which at this age is very important!

Getting Close

A couple of reasons to believe that winter is coming to a close and spring is right around the corner. With the mild temperatures recently the trees and annuals are beginning to show signs of life. We are only being teased for the moment, but it makes it easier to see the light at the end of the really cold tunnel!

After School Fun

The weather is absolutely perfect today...can you believe it is 75 degrees on March 10th in the Midwest? After school today Kyle enjoyed running and playing outside. He headed straight to the backyard for some sliding and climbing fun. I couldn't resist and I also allowed him to play in the dirt. Yes, he is "all boy" so I need to learn that he will constantly be covered in dirt, along with scraps and bruises! During Kyle's nap I will relax outside reading a book and sipping my iced tea...what a wonderful way to spend the afternoon! Hope you are enjoying your spring like day as well!

Where Have I Been?

Wow, has it really been one whole week since I last posted on the blog? I guess, the date on my blog doesn't lie so it truly has been one whole week. I wish I had a really wonderful excuse filled with plenty of pictures and amazing stories about our fun family adventures. Unfortunately, that isn't the case...actually, quite the opposite.

Since Thursday of last week I haven't been feeling well. It started out as a pretty bad cough, which turned into a little cold and body aches. John has been poking fun of me since it sounded as though I have been smoking five packs of cigarettes per day...LOL! Unfortunately, we didn't leave the house for two days and when we did it was only for a quick trip to Target...how fun and exciting! Well, Kyle may have thought so since he scored a few clothes for spring/summer and a new pair of shoes. This morning, I woke up and felt so much better which means it's time to get back into the swing of things and get back to my regularly scheduled routine. Kyle inherited the horrible cough so we are monitoring him. I am very skeptical to give Kyle an type of cough medication since all the reports which were in the news several months ago regarding children's cough and cold medication. I spoke with his pediatrician this morning so I feel better about treating the cough if we feel the need.

Hoping for happier and healthier days ahead this week! After this weekend we are looking forward to spring more than ever. The past several days sure have felt like spring, but we weren't able to head outdoors to partake in the beautiful weather.

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DR. SEUSS!

Kyle's preschool classroom will be celebrating Dr. Seuss's Birthday this week...March 2-5, 2009. Each day the class will be doing a "Study of Seuss"....which means they will be reading books written by Dr. Seuss. Kyle has several books at home he will bring to school to share with the class...Green Eggs and Ham, The Lorax, and Oh, The Places You'll Go! The class will also be doing various large and small group activities related to Dr. Seuss books...such as playing rhyming games and balancing objects like The Cat in the Hat. Wednesday is Wear Your Favorite Shoes Day and they will be reading The Foot Book. Each child is asked to wear their favorite pair of shoes this day. Unfortunately, Kyle doesn't really have a favorite pair of shoes, considering for the winter months he only has two pairs. He does have a pair of Thomas the Train tennis shoes that light up when he walks which are a little big for him that he always wants to wear so I assume those will be the shoes he wears on Wednesday.

I remember reading Dr. Seuss books as a child. A couple of books I enjoyed were Green Eggs and Ham and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. Did you read Dr. Seuss when you were a child...if so what were your favorites? What are your children's favorite books by Dr. Seuss?

Feeling Refreshed

Yeah, it's March! Why am I so excited about this? The three coldest months of the year...December, January, and February are OVER! Crossing my fingers, March brings more spring like temperatures. Today, however, was still a bit chilly, but I do have thirty more days to be hopeful! March also includes one of my favorite holidays...St. Patrick's Day! Why do I love St. Patrick's Day so much? It's my birthday! Also, you may have noticed my cute little gadget on the right side bar. March is also my One Year Blogoversary! Wow, I can't believe I've been blogging for almost one whole year. Where do the days, weeks, months, and years go....way to fast!

Last night, we went out sans Kyle and the camera...LOL! This was our first experience using our babysitting service. John and I liked the sitter and best of all Kyle seemed to as well. John and I went to dinner at the Wild Horse Grill. I'm sure you are wondering what we ordered...John had the shrimp and scallops which he rated four and half out of five stars and I ordered the veal picatta, which I would rate with five stars! As you can see, we enjoyed our dinner! After dinner we did a little shopping which is always nice without Kyle in tow. Our next stop was to a local bar for a cocktail and listen to a band. It was a nice, relaxing evening and best of all we feel refreshed! We have another date night planned in a couple of weeks to celebrate my birthday (a little early) which we are already looking forward to. Yeah for reliable babysitting...what a wonderful feeling!

I hope everyone in the blog world enjoyed their weekend!